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Prof. Reichel Visits 33rd World Veterinary Congress (WVC) and 16th Asian Association of Veterinary Schools (AAVS) Meeting

 
September 14, 2017

Prof. Michael Reichel (Chair Professor of Veterinary Medicine and Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences) attended the 16th Asian Association of Veterinary Schools (AAVS) meeting held in conjunction with the 33rd World Veterinary Congress in Incheon, South Korea, from 27 to 31 August 2017.

Both of those meetings focused heavily on veterinary education.

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In the AAVS meeting all presentations focused on veterinary accreditation and licensing requirements in the respective countries. Most countries take the path of requiring graduates from veterinary schools to take a further national licensing examination to assure overall quality, which is somewhat akin to the National Veterinary licensing exam in North America. Prof Reichel, in his talk, explained the specifics of Hong Kong registration requirements as managed by the HK Veterinary Surgeons Board, which rest primarily on the credibility of the alma mater of eligible graduates, as conferred by adhering to international accreditation standards. Prof. Reichel went on to explain the particular pathway that City University had taken by signing up for international accreditation by the Australasian Veterinary Boards Council (AVBC).

It was pleasing to note that two other veterinary schools in Asia are currently also actively looking at international accreditation, University Putra Malaysia (UPM) in Malaysia also through the AVBC and Seoul National University College of Veterinary Medicine through the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). It thus seems that international accreditation standards will be more commonly applied in the region.

The WVC had a Veterinary Education session as well, co-sponsored by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and focusing on accreditation standards around the world. North America and Europe, as well as Australasia and the UK are well served by their respective bodies (AVMA, EAEVE and AVBC, as well as RCVS) but the notable exceptions appear to be South America and Asia, where accreditation is handled either on an ad-hoc basis, or not at all.